Liima - 1982

Liima
1982
2017
Spotify

Scandinavia will often surprise with it's musically diversity. All at once you'll have some black metal bands mixed in with a totally different dream-pop outfit. You expect the music coming form the region to be somewhat homogenous and have a clear point of view but more often than not those ideas are swept away. The band that immediately springs to mind when listening to 1982 is Mew. Flourishes of electronics, big bold sounding rock and a somewhat gentle vocal. Liima however dive even deeper into the experimental leaving pop and repetition for others to attempt. On the album's second track "David Copperfield" there are no lyrics for the first four minutes and this gentle song lulls you into a sense of comfort but then everything comes in, almost startling you back into presence. Surprise seems to be a real theme on the record with songs rarely ending where they began. "Life is Dangerous" is essentially just this really stable bass line that has electronic flourishes but they aren't what you would expect and thus leave you with this really great feeling. You find all these elements of dance and House bleeding into their sound yet you never loose the sense that this is a rock band making rock music. The synth really comes into play on "People Like You" where the vocals are almost resigned to second billing in lieu of this fantastic electronic line. The synths skitter and fade in and out giving 1982 a really breathy quality.

There are times where the music can get a bit experimental for it's own good. "2-Hearted" is where the 1982 album title really comes through slipping almost entirely into a nostalgia based track save for it's rockiness. "Kirby's Dream Land" feels similarly disjointed from the rest of the album, far to reverential for the nostalgia it is trying to capture. They can tend to get so lost in a line of music that it goes on and on causing you to slowly lose interest. "Jonathan, I Can't Tell You" never reaches a point, just sort of bobs along until the end. By the time some of the trippy vocals start to slip in it's already to late and the songs impact is long gone. There are some really good ideas on 1982 not to mention some really great surprises but it feels like a record that could be better and more direct. Liima are on the right track and when they find something great, they really do, we will just have to wait and see what comes next from these boys.

7.1 out of 10